This is the Old Religion
by NimueTheSorceress
Summary: Nimueh was having a perfectly normal day. Plotting and the like. That's when an elf-woman and two psychopaths-sorry, SOCIOPATHS- appeared in front of her. What else could happen but chaos unfolding? Crossover of Merlin, Sherlock and LotR
1. Chapter 1

**A/N- Based on a random, multi-fandom chatzy thing I did a few months ago. Enjoy!**

Nimueh paused from her enchantment as she thought she heard a noise.

"Is someone there?" she called out with a frown. People didn't normally just wander into the Caves, and no one had ever gotten this deep without her to guide them. She stepped away from the pool of water reflecting her spell to glance out a one of the narrow corridor leading to this chamber, her figure silhouetted in the flickering firelight around the room. When no one responded, she just put it down to the strange apparitions that were occasionally attracted to the Old Magic.

Suddenly a strange woman in unusual, elaborate dress appeared in the cavern right in front of Nimeh. Nimueh drew in a quick breath.

"Who are you?" she said sharply.

The woman didn't respond straightaway. Instead, she looked about her like she struggling to accept what she was seeing.

"Where am I?" she responded, eventually.

Nimueh opened her mouth to respond when two men, one in some unusual kind of long jacket and the other in completely alien get-up, were suddenly there too. The man in the long jacket raised his head from where he'd found himself leaning against the wall.

"Where am I?" he frowned, and Nimueh responded without thinking.

"You're on the outskirts of Camelot. Where did you come from?" she added, suspiciously.

The woman stepped forward, gracefully Nimueh noted.

"Camelot? But I am an Elf and I've never heard of-"

"London, of course!" the man in the long jacket interrupted the 'elf' to answer Nimueh's question. Nimueh scrutinized them both and frowned.

"Elves? The elves died out centuries ago! And what's London? I've travelled all over this country, and yet I have never heard of this place…"

"London's the capital. What year is-" the man started before noticing the other stranger who'd arrived with him."Oh. Moriarty."

The 'elf-woman' chose to ignore the strange men, and instead spoke directly to Nimueh, obviously seeing some similar qualities they shared that Nimueh had noticed in her too.

"Elves are very much alive. With Sauron no longer alive, nothing can impede our survival."

Nimueh turned her back on the men. "Sauron? I have never heard of any Sauron. Was he a powerful sorcerer?"

Behind her, Nimueh heard the second man, Moriarty, get up, brushing the dust off his unusual clothes.

"What's going on?" he said in a demanding tone, ignoring the man beside him who'd clearly recognized him. No one responded.

Nimueh was struggling to keep up now. Three strangers had just appeared in a place no one can ever find. Ever. And none of them seemed to understand the world they were in. She ran a hand through her hair and stepped back so she could see the men.

"What are you?" she demanded in a desperate tone, "I have no knowledge of creatures such as these? Are you creatures of magic? Answer me!"

The woman stepped back in shock at her angry tone.

"You've never heard of Sauron? He almost controlled Middle Earth and drove the elfkind to the sea!"

Moriarty was now frowing and looking around in confusion, and Nimueh thought a little irritation.

"Will someone explain _exactly _how I was brought here, and who the hell you all are, before I decide you're not useful?" he demanded.

Nimueh drew herself up, "I am Nimueh," she declared, " High Priestess of the Old Religion."

Moriarty rolled his eyes, "Oh, God. Relgious nutjobs. The joy…" he muttered.

"That sounds like a threat, " Nimueh said, stepping towards him, "What exactly are you going to do against the most powerful sorceress you will ever meet, little man?"

"You can't be serious?" he laughed back, but Nimueh refused to see any humour in the topic.

"Magic has no place for joking under Uther's rule." She stated.

Moriarty responded by pulling out some kind of metal thing from his pocket and aiming it at her arm. There was a loud bang, and Nimueh felt a sudden, intense, pain.

"Well, this is dull, but there's an example for you." He said.


	2. Chapter 2

Shock showed on Nimueh's face for an instant, and then she pulled herself together and healed the wound with a few words. She looked back up at Moriarty.

"Is that all you've got? She smirked, and with a short phrase Moriarty had flown backwards, straight into the cave wall. Moriarty raised his head, slightly dazed.

"Oh, _shut up_." He pulled himself upright, and started looking around for some kind of exit from the cavern.

"It'll take you days to find the exit without knowing where it is…" Nimueh called after him.

Moriarty spun around. "Did you not just hear what I said, or are you just stupid- Wait, answered my own question." He pulled an odd, metal box thing from his pocket and started pointing it at the cavern ceiling.

All this time, the other man had stayed stood against the cavern wall, not even flinching at Nimueh's display of magic, but now he smirked at Moriarty.

Nimueh looked at the object in Moriarty's hand in confusion. "What _is_ that? And this?" she knelt down and picked up the strange metal object that had wounded her from the floor.

The others ignored her. "Sherly, I can feel your eyes boring into the back of my head. I'm not overly interested in playing with you just now." He carried on waving the metal box around, though Nimueh wasn't really sure what he was trying to achieve.

"Will somebody please tell me who you all are?" Nimueh cried out in exasperation. Moriarty glanced up at her.

"Will somebody please tell me why you are so incredibly stupid?" he mocked.

The woman stepped forward. "I am Arwen Undómiel. My father was Lord Elrond and my mother Lady Celebrian." Nimueh nodded at her.

Moriarty muttered some kind of curse and lowered the metal box, sitting down on a bit of rock jutting out from the wall.

"Who. Are. You?" Nimueh said for what she hoped was the final time.

The man in the long jacket smiled at her. "I'm Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective. And this," he gestured at Moriarty, "is Jim Moriarty, consulting criminal."

Jim raised his hand without looking away from the metal box in his hand. "Hi."

"Such strange names… Where are you people from?" Nimueh responded.

"London." Both men said at the same time, then glared at each other.

"London?" Nimue frowned, "Do you mean Londonium?"

"Ah." "Wonderful…" was their response, though Nimueh wasn't sure why.

"Tell me, when do they come in here to give you your pills and shock treatment? Or do they just leave you here to rot?" Moriarty asked. Sherlock gave a slight smile, and added, "Perfect place for you then, Jim."

Nimueh smirked, "It _is_ possible to leave the caves, you know. You just need to know where you're going…"

Suddenly, the elf-woman, Arwen, spoke. "Auta miqula orqu." She said, randomly, but, as Nimueh had no idea what she was saying, she didn't respond. Instead, Moriarty spoke over her.

"If you know how to leave then-" he started at Nimueh, before registering what the woman said. Clearly, this was a language he knew. He turned to Arwen and said "You really are a dedicated Tolkien fan."

Sherlock rolled his eyes and muttered, "Lord of the Rings…"

Arwen acted like they weren't there, just as she had been doing all along, "Nimueh, could you show me out please?" she asked, and Nimueh smiled and replied "Of course. Follow me," and with a few muttered words she plunged the cave into darkness to stop the men from following.

* * *

In turn, the two men ignored the women, having both already mentally branded them as insane. However, without the mindless chatter, they soon found they had to make up for it.

"Is this a mental asylum?" Sherlock started, stating one of his various theories as to what the hell was going on.

Moriarty considered it for a second. "It might be. That _would_ explain a lot. Although the décor _is_ rather dire…"

Sherlock sighed. "It's a cave, Jim…"

Moriarty only waved it off, "Anyway, didn't you jump off of a building recently? You seem to be in remarkably good health. I'm almost disappointed."

"Ah." Sherlock winced, "Didn't you shoot yourself recently, though?"

"I did, but a basic knowledge of anatomy is always useful when having to shoot yourself. There were a few…_minor _speedbumps afterwards, but that's not important."

Sherlock nodded. "Indeed. It's also rather helpful to have a…contact in the local morgue."

"I suppose I'll have to be more certain of your death next time. Hmm… decapitation is always fun. Wait- Molly? But you never gave her a second thought!" he gave a short laugh.

"I look forward to decapitation then."

"Hmm... yes. I never liked Molly anyway. She was so _clinging_ and annoying! And I don't like that cat." Moriarty wrinkled his nose.

"Oh really?"

"Yes. It bites."

"She _is_ rather annoying, isn't she?" Sherlock smirked. Moriarty looked at him in mock horror.

"Someone, alert the newspapers! Sherlock Holmes just agreed with someone!"

"Shocking…" Sherlock raised his eyebrows. And then everything got dull again for a while


	3. Chapter 3

Nimueh and Arwen didn't stay outside for long. They were mostly grateful for the fresh air and sunlight that the men were missing out on. After a short discussion, Nimueh began to worry slightly about what the men were doing back in the cavern. She had enchantments and experiments back there, things that could be dangerous for them all. Making her way back through, she caught the end of Sherlock and Moriarty's conversation.

"So where's your lapdog these days, Sherly?" Moriarty was saying, "Does he know you're not rotting in a grave?"

Sherlock span round to face Moriarty, "John's not my lapdog. What about your Seb?"

Nimueh was intrigued. So these men both knew other then, wherever they'd come from.

"Less of the lapdog, more of the attack dog, but I suppose the idea is similar," countered Moriarty.

Sherlock laughed, dryly, then spoke to Nimueh without turning around. "Was there something you wanted to ask?"

Nimueh tried to look unfazed. "There might have been." She replied with a small smirk, "You two know each other? Wherever you're from?"

"I wouldn't say know…"

"Oh look, they're back!" Moriarty interrupted. "How was Isengard?" he asked slowly, like he was talking to a toddler, "Did you find the One Ring? Or, better still, have they given you your medication yet?" he laughed to himself.

Nimueh frowned, something she seemed to be doing a lot recently. "Medication? Another new word. What is it?"

"The thing you haven't taken today, it seems." Sherlock responded.

Moriarty groaned. "Sherly, where do you stand morally if I just shoot them?"

Nimueh sighed and took the opportunity to throw Moriarty against the wall again. She wasn't really sure why. It was probably just because he was an irritating demon. Even that idiot Merlin wasn't quite as grating on her patience as this man.

Moriarty sat up against the wall almost straight away. Curious. It didn't seemed to have harmed him at all.

"What keeps doing that?" he asked angrily.

Sherlock pointed at Nimueh. "Somehow, I have to believe it's her. I've certainly eliminated the impossible already…"

Nimueh simply held up her hands. "Look. No ropes. Shall I do it again?" For the third time, Moriarty was thrown forcefully against a wall, and yet he still appeared perfectly fine. This time, though, he didn't sit down, though Nimueh thought she heard him mutter, "Bloody hell…"

Sherlock gave a humorless laugh. "You really don't die, do you?"

"Even the great Emrys cannot go through that once without being knocked out, or at least dazed. The average Camelot guard is instantly killed. Yet you live after three attempts…" Nimueh looked at him curiously for a moment, then turned to Sherlock. "But do you believe me yet?

Sherlock raised an eyebrow, and a sudden lack of response from Moriarty's area led Nimueh to believe that he had finally passed out, or better still, died.

Sherlock wandered over to him and confirmed "Unconcious."

"Shame. But you've avoided my question, Sherlock Holmes."

"You knocked out Jim Moriarty. I'm happy to believe anything you say." He smirked.

Nimueh looked at him closely. "Ask me to do something. Anything."

"Show me Dr. John Watson."

Nimueh frowned, but led to way to her basin of water in another cavern room. "Tell me about him. Everything. Appearance. Personality. Life." Sherlock complied, and Nimueh began chanting, using the information Sherlock had given her to conjure up an image in her mind.

Before long, a face appeared in the water, and Sherlock started. Nimueh stopped the chanting, but held the spell for a moment, saying only, "Well?"

Sherlock's eyes widened. "I believe you."

"Good." She ended the spell and led the way back into other cavern. She paused at the entrance and frowned. "Something's wrong…"

Sherlock stopped beside her. "Yes. Moriarty's starting to wake up."

"No, not that…" Nimueh paused, thinking. "Arwen! Where's Arwen gone?"

Sherlock frowned. "Well, she can't have just vanished. Maybe she just left the cavern?"

Nimueh closed her eyes for a second and searched out with her mind. "No, she's not down there."

Sherlock looked down at her curiously, but didn't dispute her statement for once.

"But she can't have just vanished. Unless… you just appeared here. Maybe you'll just disappear when you leave. That must be how I get rid of you."

"So we just wait? How boring…" Moriarty had finally recovered.

Nimueh turned to face him, then saw movement coming from another cavern. "No!" she cried, running into there, "My enchantment!" Wisps of strange creatures were swirling around, whispering words to quiet to make out. Nimueh began chanting hurriedly in an attempt to control them.

"What is this?" Sherlock called from the entrance he and Moriarty were watching from.

"This," Nimueh gestured mockingly, realizing there was no going back now, "was my revenge on Uther. It wasn't meant to go here though! I said the citadel of Camelot! But you all appeared and disrupted my enchantment!" The wisps were beginning to form into people now, all too familiar people. She could almost make out the words, but she knew now what they'd be saying anyway.

"That wasn't the question, honey." Moriarty interrupted her thoughts. "What _are_ they?"

"Conscience. This is my conscience. This is what keeps me up at night. Except… why you?" she cried to the ghosts, "It wasn't my fault! I didn't know what he'd do!"

"They're dead, yes?" Sherlock asked.

"Yes. But not by my hand. In those days, I was no executioner.

"Which means that someone else dealt the blow, but you feel that you were the trigger for that. Now, you said that we are in Camelot, which was the centre of Arthurian Britain. While King Arthur himself accepted magic because of his connection to the sorcerer, Merlin, his father was less acceptant in the legends due to the death of his wife at Arthur's birth. The legends say a powerful sorceress, or a high priestess, helped with the birth. When you introduced yourself, you introduced yourself as the High Priestess of the Old Religion. So, Uther probably killed these people because they had magic, due to the death of his wife, which he blamed on your magic. And it was your magic that triggered his response and killings of anybody with magic, therefore, you blame yourself for these people dying, and you want to punish Uther for making you feel that way, except it's starting to get a bit out of control, isn't it? You've lived for a long time, I'm guessing you must be older than you look, and you're alone, so you keep going, because you want to take Uther down to Hell with you when you finally die." Sherlock reeled, trailing off into an awkward silence. Moriarty smirked at his response, and Nimueh's shocked confusion.

After a pause, she said "You're right. You're absolutely right," and looked at Sherlock with an odd glint in her eye. She turned away from both men. "Ygraine's here too. She was a good woman. I was sorry for her death. Look, there she is." Nimueh pointed at a figure in a long, fine gown, with long hair that seemed pale even in her ghostly form. "Do you want to know what she's saying?"

Sherlock nodded.

"She's asking me a question. She keeps saying the same word over and over. She's asking me 'Why?'"

"Why what?"

"Why didn't I tell Uther. I knew that someone's life had to be taken for Arthur's life to be given. I knew it could have been her, but I never thought the fates would be so cruel. But if I had only warned Uther, then maybe he would have changed his mind." Nimueh looked back at the others, and added, bitterly "He wouldn't have. Not really. Uther needed his heir too much."

Nimueh turned her head quickly to look at the ghosts again. "I don't know all of these." She said with a frown. "And the clothes. The clothing is all wrong. Who are they?"

A ghostly short, fair haired man in a short jacket and trousers moved past Nimueh, repeating a short phrase over and over again.

Nimueh turned as he walked past, watching him carefully, but looked up as she caught a glimpse of Sherlock's face. He was pale, almost as white as the spirits, and he didn't seem to be able to comprehend what he was seeing. He opened his mouth to speak, but the words got caught in his throat.

"N-Ni… Nimueh. What is he saying? I can't… I can't make it out." There was an odd kind of desperation in his voice. Who was this man? Was this Sherlock's conscience?

Nimueh listened carefully for a moment, singling out the figure's voice from all the rest.

"He's saying… he's saying, 'Don't be dead.'"

**A/N- Yay! Cliffhanger! Now, I wonder who this mysterious person is… ;) **

**Thanks for reading my story, anybody who got this far. I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave me a review, because they really help me to keep going when I'm struggling to find the right words. Also thanks to Mergana Pendragon, Bredhlaf Swelgend, ottergirl2 and for the reviews, follows and favs. That's it for now! Till the next time!**


	4. Author's Note

**A/N- Okay, so sorry for not updating in ages. Basically, I've run out of creativity for this story. I keep trying to add more to it, and I can't think of any way to continue. If anyone's got any suggestions for something they'd like to happen, please PM me or review this, but otherwise I might just abandon it because it's not going anywhere. Sorry again. Oh, and thanks to Tolleren, Mergana Pendragon, superwholockvengerson-serinity and shhmolin2 for reviewing and following.**

**Nimue out!**


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